Row erupts over anti-doping ‘chaperone’ watching tennis players as they shower after a match
The International Tennis Integrity Agency [ITIA] has hit the headlines time and again in recent months and now they have responded to another contentious issue.
The ITIA oversee doping control and corruption in tennis, with the positive doping tests for world No 1 male player Jannik Sinner and world No 2 female player Iga Swiatek thrusting the organisation into a bright spotlight.
The debate over the punishment handed down to Sinner and Swiatek over their doping violations is ongoing, with Sinner set to return to action next month after accepting a three-month suspension after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the initial ITIA decision not to hand the Italian a suspension.
Now the ITIA are in the news again, after they highlighted the rules around players taking a show immediately after matches.
If a player is asked to take part in a doping test, they need to be accompanied at all times to ensure there is no contamination occurring in the process.
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This also includes when they take a shower, with this statement sent to players causing a stir in recent days.
“The ITIA and previously the ITF has worked hard to ensure that showers following matches can amount to a permissible delay to doping control, particularly when not showering could have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of a player,” read the note sent out to players.
“However, showering is not an entitlement, and it is for this reason that the ITIA kindly requests that when showering, players adhere to the requirement to stay in full view of the chaperone observing them at all times.
“If a player is not comfortable being witnessed whilst showering, we would suggest that consideration is given to whether a shower is necessary before providing a doping control sample.
“Failure to remain in full view of the chaperone will be taken extremely seriously by the ITIA.”
The ITIA further clarified their position with this statement: “We recognise that parts of the anti-doping testing process are uncomfortable.
“However, as with all World Anti-Doping Agency-compliant sports – not just tennis – players who are notified for a test after a match are observed at all times by an anti-doping chaperone until the test is completed. This is a requirement of the World Anti-Doping Code.”
Andy Murray’s former coach Mark Petchey described the idea of an anti-doping officer observing players as they had a shower as ‘unacceptable’, yet the ITIA are in a tough position as they are merely trying to follow the code of conduct they have signed up to.
Finding a balance between indecency and observing the protocols that need to be followed to ensure tennis is a sport free from doping issue can be challenging and this debate will rumble on after what was a private note to players became very public.
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